In laparoscopic surgery, several relatively small ports are made in the abdomen for allowing introduction of different types of instrumentation and accessories into the abdominal cavity for different surgical interventions (usually performed under endoscopic vision). Although usually considered superior in several aspects to open surgery, the use of a plurality of 5 to 15 mm ports still leads to local pain, scars, and possibly port related complications such as hernia in scars and the need for one or two assistants in addition to the surgeon. A known concept which aims at relieving some of such disadvantages includes the use of a single port for introducing regular sized surgical heads which are interchangeably connectable to manipulators extendable into the abdominal cavity via small sized entry points, usually 3 mm or less. The manipulators usually includes an elongated slender shaft being 3 mm or less in diameter, emerging from a robotic or handheld actuator part provided outside patient body, and they are introduced into the abdominal cavity either percutaneous (if having sharp distal end, for example) or through a minimal invasive laparoscopic port. Prior publications describing relevant techniques and instrumentation include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,352,219, 5,441,059, 5,593,402, 6,723,043, 7,666,181 and 8,133,254.
Nevertheless, assembling any two parts projecting from remote entry points in a body cavity still possesses certain challenges that should be answered in further improvement of currently proposed means and methods. One challenge is to safely engage and then assemble these two parts, even under laparoscopic vision, without possibly harming nearby tissues and organs and of course without dropping any of these parts before or during engagement and/or assembly in the body cavity. Second challenge is to locate, engage and assemble the two parts easily and rapidly so that no significant burden will be added to surgeon's work.